I'm Stressed - No I'm Not

For many people work related stress can become an unbearable burden. We feel we must just keep our heads down and carry on with the job despite knowing that we are struggling. Many jobs involve negative factors that put unwanted pressure (stress) on the worker, leading to adverse consequences.When stress is triggered as a result of work pressures it can be due to a number of reasons such as long hours, low salaries, excessive workloads, tight deadlines, organisational change, lack of support, few opportunities for growth or advancement, harassment/bullying just to name a few.

Stress erodes confidence and makes us question our ability and many employees are reluctant to talk about stress at work. There is an unwritten law in the workplace among employees that if you dare to say that you're stressed that instantly will mark you as a low performer, with no initiative, not willing to succeed and many think they will be seen as weak if they admit they are struggling. They also convince themselves that their stress is just for a short while until things get better but more often than not this is not the case. Workers attempt to cope with stress in a number of ways and with varying degrees of success.

If stress is not well managed it can build and manifest anxiety. The two can then feed off each other — the anxiety will cause more things to be interpreted as stressors, which will continue to compound the anxiety until you are overwhelmed and runned down physically and emotionally.

According to the HSE (Health and Safety Executive), in 2015/16 over 480,000 people in the UK reported that work-related stress was making them ill. This amounts to nearly 40% of all work-related illness.

According to Stress.org, how severe stress is for workers depends on what demands are placed on them in relation to the amount of control they have in making decisions and dealing with those demands. Employees who feel like they have a lot demanded of them but little control over their work life have high stress levels.

Stress isn’t always bad. According to experts, stress is a burst of energy that basically advises you on what to do. In small doses, stress has many advantages. Good stress (eustress) happens when we confront a situation we believe we can manage or control. This can help you stay focused, energetic, and able to meet new challenges in the workplace. Some researchers have suggested that exposure to a moderate level of stress that you can master, can actually make you stronger and better able to manage stress, just like a vaccine, which contains a tiny amount of the bug, can immunize you against getting the disease.

If you’re stressed, people still think it’s a character flaw!

Stress can arguably be used to define the effect that hard working, everyday life has on the majority of individuals in society. Richard Dienstbier’s (1989) theory of mental toughness suggests that experiencing some manageable stress factors, with recovery in between, can make us more mentally and physically tough and less reactive to future stress.

Successful employees turn stress into positive energy and motivation rather than letting it consume them. Too little stress at the workplace can lead to complacency and affect how much you actually get done. When you take risks and choose to break your comfort zones at work, it helps your mental toughness and self-confidence. And these are qualities that can increase your marketability and promotion opportunities. 

When stress becomes chronic, or when we feel we're no longer in control of a situation, that it negatively affects our health and well-being. If stress on the job is interfering with your work performance, health, or personal life, it’s time to take action.  Learning to deal with stressful situations can make future ones easier to manage, according to a large body of research on the science of resilience.

The Anxiety and Depression Association of America also conducted a study related to workplace stress and anxiety orders, finding that stress is hurting job performance and quality of life. The report found that 72% of those surveyed had daily stressed that they felt interfered with their lives to some degree while 40% noted they had persistent stress as part of their life.

Unfortunately, work-related stress doesn't just disappear when you head home for the day.  All aspects of life tend to be impacted by the stress they feel on the job. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America's survey reported that employees believed that this stress adversely impacted their performance, work quality, and relationships with colleagues and superiors. This stress then comes home with these workers, interfering with personal lives and relationships with loved ones like spouses and family.

80% of workers feel stress on the job, and 25% have felt like screaming or shouting because of job stress; 14% even said that they had felt like striking a co-worker in the past year, but didn't.( Attitudes in the American Workplace VII)

Before it turns into a problem, it makes sense to detect what causes you stress in the workplace, so you can work on doing something about it. It may be tough to tell when you’re experiencing good or bad stress, but there are important ways that your body lets you know that you’re struggling with too much stress.  Stress, having a variety of causes, has a range of symptoms. Often people don’t recognise the symptoms of work related stress and instead adopt a ‘coping’ mechanism putting it down to just being extra busy and they should be able to cope. Other signs and symptoms of excessive stress at work include:  

• Feeling anxious, irritable, or depressed
• Inability to concentrate or complete tasks
• Apathy, loss of interest in work
• Trouble falling to sleep or staying awake
• Anxiety
• Fatigue
• Muscle tension or headaches
• Changes in appetite
• Social withdrawal
• Increase in sickness absences and/or turning up late to work.

The best approach to dealing with this continuing problem is to develop some coping mechanisms rather than putting your energy into fighting it or trying to control things that you cannot control. Here are some ways to cope with stress in healthy ways, minimize some of the symptoms

Try to observe how self-criticism operates inside you

Letting yourself burn out won’t do anyone any good–but taking a moment to recognize that can. Pay attention on any dismissal or minimization of your pain, your needs and your rights. Record your thoughts, feelings and information about the environment, including the people and circumstances involved. Identify and manage your negative emotions. Taking notes can help you find patterns and help your reactions to them. And importantly, resist the urge to be a perfectionist – it’s often OK to be ‘good enough’ rather than perfect.

Tackle your stress triggers

Effective stress management starts with identifying your sources of stress and developing strategies to manage them. Identifying your stress triggers is the first step towards managing your stress levels. There are a variety of triggers that can activate the “fight-or-flight” response and differs from person to person. Once you've identified your stress triggers, consider each situation or event and look for ways to resolve it.

Avoid irregular work schedules as much as possible.

Salaried workers don’t have to deal with varying work schedules, but hourly employees do. And it’s a huge stressor. Almost 30% of workers with irregular schedules report having serious work and family conflicts over the issue.

Learn to say "no." 

It's hard for many of us to say "no" to someone, but if we are to maintain our health and sanity, it's a requirement at times. This is especially true when we're being asked to do work outside of our daily responsibilities in the workplace or if we're being asked to do too much.

Prioritize and organize

All work and no play is a recipe for burnout. Try to find a balance between work and family life, social activities and solitary pursuits, daily responsibilities and downtime.

Keep perspective

• Get others point of view

Keeping everything inside is never healthy. Calmly consider you may not be seeing your situation clearly. Support from family and friends, even if it's to vent or just talk, can be a huge help in managing stress. Those around you like friends and family care about you and don't mind listening to you vent about what's stressing you out. By relating the stressful event and seeing others listen attentively, you can find yourself calming down.

• Take a break

When possible, take time off to relax and unwind, so you come back to work feeling reinvigorated and ready to perform at your best. When you're not able to take time off, get a quick boost by turning off your smartphone and focusing your attention on non-work activities for a while.

• Have an outlet

It’s important to have some kind of stress management routine when you work at a high-stress job. There are many things you may enjoy in your free time away from work. When work-related stress builds up, the first things we push to the sidelines are our out-of-work routines and rituals: exercising, maintaing our social relationships, the solo activities we do to unwind. 

Turn to co-workers for support

Stress is a personal thing. What is stressful for one person is not for another. There’s a limit to how much you can do, but it’s your job to communicate to others when you’ve hit it. Inability to delegate and the need to micromanage are both paths to increased stress and burnout. The people at your job can have a big impact on your level of satisfaction. Try asking for a small amount of help initially and see what kind of impact that makes, then work up to requesting assistance with the bigger stuff, too.

Talk to your supervisor

A reasonable supervisor will understand that healthy means more productive.The purpose of this isn't to lay out a list of complaints, but rather to come up with an effective plan for managing the stressors you've identified, so you can perform at your best on the job. It is a good idea to have an informal meeting away from your usual work place to put the individual at ease, prevent interruptions and ensure privacy. While some parts of your supervisors plan may be designed to help you improve your skills in areas such as time management, other elements might include identifying employer-sponsored wellness resources you can tap into, clarifying what's expected of you, getting necessary resources or support from colleagues, enriching your job to include more challenging or meaningful tasks, or making changes to your physical workspace to make it more comfortable and reduce strain.

Establish healthy boundaries

Know what is acceptable to you and what's not when it comes to relationships at work. Set good boundaries so others don't intrude on your time or space. Setting healthy boundaries also means making clear decisions as to when you'll check email, maintain work hours, and speak with co-workers. Try turning off all devices for a certain period of time each day. And, when you go on vacation, take the opportunity to leave your phone or computer in your room occasionally and go enjoy yourself.